Overall, the Nikon Coolpix P500 is pretty impressive. Although there are a few flaws, the camera's features make up for them. Below are the major pros and cons I found after using the camera for a few hours.

Pros:
- HUGE 36x Optical Zoom (at full zoom I could see buildings 5 miles away as if they were two blocks away)
- Relatively lightweight and compact, much smaller than I expected.(compared to an entry level DSLR)
- Up to 240 FPS video, nice slow motion.
- Manual controls, a must for any experienced camera user.
- Buttons well laid out and simple to find and use.

Cons:
- Image quality was good but it was pretty much expected, nothing extraordinary for this price range. If you prefer higher quality images over features in this price range, an entry level DSLR such as the D3100 is the way to go.
- If you accidentally leave the lens cap on and turn the camera on, the lens will still try to come out and it will grind the motor... Read more

I just returned from the holidays that I got the camera for. 14 days in Alaska. The camera did nearly everything I asked of it. A couple points I would like to point out. *I used firmware version 1.0 while on holiday, I now see version 1.1 is out, but does not appear to address any of the points I had issue with*

I got to work with the video more, and I had very bad luck getting it to focus. However I did notice if I ran the zoom out and THEN turned on the video, it seemed to be able to grab focus on the subjects much better. Again, doesn't make sense to me, but I will be interested in others that try it and if they have the same experience. I met several folks both traveling with us and at the places I visited that own the P500. Shared experiences with others and got some slick pointers from some too. Almost to the person the folks I interacted with were pleased to very pleased with this camera. Yes, we all shared some of the same gripes. One of the universal... Read more

I've owned the Nikon p90 and p100, so I've got an idea of what these Nikon superzooms are like. I wasn't planning on buying a new superzoom, but the big jump in zoom to 810mm made me plonk down the money again. ( I think I need help, I'm becomeing a camera junkie). While wide angles aren't usually something I look for in most cameras, 22.5mm (35mm format) is really wide! The p500 is once again evolutionary, rather than revolutionary.

The Good:

- Light and easy to hold, which makes it a good travelling camera. Less than half the weight of my dslr with an 18-200mm lens attached.

- Tilting 3 inch LCD screen.

- Humungous zoom. I write before that the Fujifilm HS10 720mm zoom was huge. 810mm is even huger! (This is the zoom range it should have been in the p100 imho, but as they say, better late than never). You will truly see things you'd never thought you'd see when you zoom out to 810mm.

- Easy to use...relatively. Since I've... Read more